I have NUC7i3BNH with Windows 10 and Kodi 17.0 installed. Everything works fine except HD audio. I'm using hdmi connection to Marantz SR7009 and it doesn't recognize Dolby Digital Plus stream. DTS-HD works, but there is minor stuttering when starting or resuming playback. This is also happening with other players, so it is not issue with Kodi.

I have the latest BIOS (0036) and HDMI firmware (1.61).

My second unit (NUC6I3SYK) works fine with the same settings and programs.

Here's the problem: There are many tens, if not hundreds, of distributions out there, many hundreds of active versions of these distributions and many thousands of possible installations (once you factor in things like necessary kernel and driver updates). The cost for fully and properly validating a single O/S release is significant. Each supported installation of Linux (unfortunately, you can't just say 'distribution'; there are simply too many variables involved) has the same cost for validation as a release of Windows does. Contemplating multiplying this cost by tens if not hundreds of times is simply not going to happen -- not when the cost for this validation and its support must be incorporated into the unit price for the product and especially considering that there must be a reasonable expectation that there will be at least the possibility of a profit (and certainly not a loss) being made across the projected sales volume for the unit (why would Intel make the product otherwise?). Bottom line, Intel has made a business decision to not formally support Linux. You may not like this decision, but that certainly doesn't make it in any way, shape or form unprofessional.